Chinese President Xi Jinping today called on the Hong Kong authorities to take “all necessary measures” to bring an unprecedented wave of Omicron strains under control, pro-Chinese Hong Kong newspapers reported today.
The announcement came a day after the head of government in the metropolis, Carrie Lam, ruled out a complete lockdown of the city, as is done in China.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Hong Kong has insisted on mainland China’s policy of zero tolerance for Covid. But since the appearance of the first cases of the Omicron variant in late December, which is highly contagious, the city has recorded more than 1,000 cases every day with hospitals under great pressure. Hong Kong today recorded 4,280 cases of infection, a new record number.
The Hong Kong-affiliated Hong Kong newspapers Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po reported that Xi had asked the authorities to “take all necessary measures to protect” health.
Hong Kong must “prioritize stabilizing and controlling Covid’s situation, first and foremost,” Xi added.
Hours after the statements were made, Lam herself expressed “gratitude” for the Chinese president’s concern.
“The government, in compliance with the important instructions of President Xi Jinping, will assume the primary responsibility for taking all necessary measures to protect the life and health of the people of Hong Kong,” Lam said in a statement today.
China remains one of the few countries in the world to implement a zero-tolerance policy against Covid, which provides for the eradication of any epidemic outbreak, quarantining entire cities for weeks, tracking case contacts and conducting mass tests.
But it is not certain that Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, will one day be able to have zero cases, even with a complete lockdown, given the significant number of Omicron infections it records.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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